Sligo Gaol or Sligo Prison, () is a former prison located in

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

, Ireland, which was open from 1823 to 1959.

Construction

The prison sits on an site and was designed to hold 200 inmates in a polygon-shaped building, with the governor's residence situated in the centre of the prison. Construction of the prison began in 1818 and it was opened in 1823 at a cost of £30,000. The prison provided its own hospital wing, surgery,

dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

cookhouse A cookhouse is a small building where cooking takes place. Often found at remote work camps, they complemented the bunkhouse and were usually found on ranches that employed cowboys, or loggers in a logging camp. Prior to the 20th century, cook ...

, furnace, clothing store and school.

General history

Gas was introduced to the prison in 1879. This allowed the provision of heating via hot water pipes and earned it the nickname of the Cranmore Hotel. Male inmates in the prison were forced to undertake ''"

hard labour Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included inv ...

"''. This labour included the picking of

oakum Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibers used to seal gaps. Its traditional application was in shipbuilding for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships. Oakum was also used in p ...

, rock breaking and wood chopping. Other forms of male labour included

shoemaking Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or '' cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cen ...

tailoring A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...

, glazing, and painting, whilst female inmates were employed to sew, knit and wash clothes. During the 20th century the prison was self-sufficient and produced its own food, the surplus of which was sold outside the prison at stalls in Sligo.

Notable events

The final public hanging at Sligo Gaol occurred on 19 August 1861 when 26-year-old

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, Ireland. It is around 20 km south of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is in the north-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Ballymote lies in the Barony (Ireland), barony ...

native Mathew Phibbs, also known as the ''"Ballymote Slasher"'', was hanged for murdering William and Fanny Callaghan and a servant girl Anne Mooney in January of the same year. The last person overall to be hanged within the prison was a Mr. Doherty of

Carrick-on-Shannon Carrick-on-Shannon () is the county town of County Leitrim in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. A smaller part of the town located on the west bank of the River Shannon lies in County Roscommon and is home to th ...

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...

in 1903, who was convicted of murdering his son. On 26 June 1920, a party of approximately 100

volunteers Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...

from the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) undertook a raid on Sligo Gaol with the aim of liberating Frank Carty, the OC of the South Sligo Brigade of the IRA and the newly elected

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

council of

Town Council. The IRA members forced open the main gate of the prison and the inner doors. They then forced the nightwatchman to turn over the keys to the cells and they released Carty who was taken away in a waiting motor car. Throughout the period of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

a number of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

spies were held in Sligo Gaol. In September 1946, ten German spies were released from the prison; however, eight of the spies chose to remain in Ireland. In 1947 Jack Doyle was imprisoned in Sligo Gaol for issuing a cheque which later bounced. He served four months of hard labour.

Closure

During the 1950s the number of prisoners detained in the prison was low and dropped to less than 15. The prison subsequently closed on 5 June 1956 after the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform James Everett passed the ''Sligo Prison Closing Order, 1956'' on 25 April 1956 and the prisoners were transferred to

Mountjoy Prison Mountjoy Prison (), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Ray Murtagh. History Mountjoy was designed by Cap ...

. The closure of the prison was welcomed by councillors of Sligo Corporation as they felt it was a symbol of slavery and the conquest of Ireland. In 1957, the Irish Department of Justice transferred the ownership of the prison to Sligo County Council. The department, however, retained control of three houses. One of these was retained as a Bridewell in which a prisoner could be held on remand overnight. The last time this Bridewell was used was circa 1959 for a youth remanded on a murder charge. The law was changed to allow a Peace Commissioner to remand a prisoner to Mountjoy, thus the necessity of overnight remand was removed. In 1961, there were plans made to convert the former

prison officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

s' quarters into married quarters for the Gardaí. However, this never materialised and the prison is now used as a storage facility for

Sligo County Council Sligo County Council () is the local authority of County Sligo, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and de ...

with a portion of the site redeveloped as council offices and the headquarters for the Sligo

Fire Brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

Notable inmates

* Frank Carty * Michael Collins *

Michael Davitt Michael Davitt (25 March 1846 – 30 May 1906) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule (Ireland), Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's ...

* Jack Doyle

List of governors of Sligo Gaol

References

External links

Sligo Gaol
* {{Authority control 1823 establishments in Ireland 1956 disestablishments in Ireland

Gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

Defunct prisons in the Republic of Ireland History of Sligo (town)